Biographical Info

Bennett A. Shaywitz, M.D. is the Charles and Helen Schwab Professor in Dyslexia and Learning Development, Chief of Pediatric Neurology and Co-Director of the Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity at the Yale University School of Medicine. Both a child neurologist and neuroscientist, Shaywitz is a leader in applying functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to understand the neurobiology of reading and dyslexia in children and adults. These studies identify a neural signature for dyslexia, making a previously hidden disability visible, and for the first time demonstrate the brain basis for the accommodation of extra time needed by dyslexic readers on high-stakes standardized tests. Shaywitz is currently using fMRI to investigate attentional mechanisms in dyslexia.

The author of over 300 scientific papers, Shaywitz’ many honors include election to membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, Distinguished Alumnus Award from Washington University, the Annie Glenn Award for Leadership from the Ohio State University and annual selection annual selection in Best Doctors in America and America’s Top Doctors.

Dr. Shaywitz was selected, along with Dr. Sally Shaywitz, as recipient of the Haggerty-Friedman Distinguished Lectureship at the University of Rochester; Lawrence G. Crowley Distinguished Lectureship at Stanford University; Rita Rudel Distinguished Lectureship at Columbia University; Waldo E. Nelson lectureship at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children; Leonard Apt Lectureship of the American Academy of Pediatrics; Bank Street College of Education Distinguished Lectureship; Stoll Distinguished Lectureship at Pennsylvania State University; Frontiers of Science Lecture, American Psychiatric Association; and Sidney Berman Award presented by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr. Shaywitz has served on the Institute of Medicine Immunization Safety Review Committee and on the National Vaccine Program Safety Subcommittee and on the Scientific Advisory Board of the March of Dimes.